The District of Columbia Housing Authority is an independent government agency whose mission is to provide affordable housing to extremely low- through moderate-income households, foster sustainable communities, and cultivate opportunities for residents to improve their lives throughout the eight wards of Washington, D.C.. One of the District’s largest landlords, DCHA provides subsidized housing to approximately 50,000 residents, nearly one-tenth of the District’s population. The waitlist for housing assistance was closed in April 2013. Since closed in May 2014, the authority has been in the midst of a campaign to identify those who still need assistance on the list. DCHA manages 52 properties with approximately 8,000 public housing units. The authority also supplies more than 13,000 housing vouchers to District residents, including some 800 Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing vouchers, more than 2,000 Local Rent Subsidy Program vouchers, and thousands from the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program, formerly known as Section 8. Nearly 19,500 families receive support from DCHA, the majority of those families have black women as the head of household. About 70 percent of those families are voucher holders. Nearly eight percent of DCHA's clients are elderly and 18 percent are disabled.
Finances
The District of Columbia Housing Authority had $560 million in net assets as of January 2013. More than 99 percent of DCHA's funding comes from the federal government. In 2012 and 2013, about 77 percent of the agency's total revenues were provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for HCVP and an additional 11 percent for DCHA-administered public housing grants. Rents paid by public housing residents contributed seven percent of total revenues. The remaining four percent of revenue is from a variety of sources, including laundry rooms, service fees, grants, and philanthropic support. More than 60 percent of operating revenue was allocated to providing housing assistance vouchers to tenants while the remaining 40 percent was used for maintenance, protective services, utilities, tenant services and programs, and administrative operations
Conventionally Owned Public Housing Developments
There are more than 7,100 units in 52 traditional public housing developments. Of those properties, 14 serve the elderly and disabled. DCHA maintains an occupancy rate of approximately 97 percent. Tenants pay 30 percent of their adjusted income towards rent. The average rent paid by a public housing household is approximately $250. Northwest
DCHA has responsibility and financial interest in 23 mixed-income properties, but does not own them directly. Within those properties there are nearly 4,500 units, 3,900 of them are affordable, including more than 1,230 public housing units. Northwest
